WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will likely give India, South Korea, Turkey and others another six-month reprieve on Friday from financial sanctions because they have reduced their purchases of crude oil from Iran, two U.S. government sources said on Thursday.

Oil shipments by Iran, the country’s main source of foreign exchange, have more than halved in 2012 due to U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at reining in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, pressuring its rial currency and igniting inflation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will likely give on Friday another six-month reprieve from financial sanctions to India, South Korea, Turkey and others because they have reduced their purchases of crude oil from Iran, two U.S. government sources said on Thursday.

The United States has worked this year with all of Iran’s major oil buyers in an effort to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by cutting revenue from oil sales. All of the buyers are expected to eventually receive the waivers to sanctions, known as “exceptions”, in exchange for cutting purchases of oil from Iran.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will likely give on Friday another six-month reprieve from financial sanctions to India, South Korea, Turkey and others because they have reduced their purchases of crude oil from Iran, two U.S. government sources said on Thursday.

The United States has worked this year with all of Iran’s major oil buyers in an effort to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by cutting revenue from oil sales. All of the buyers are expected to eventually receive the waivers to sanctions, known as “exceptions”, in exchange for cutting purchases of oil from Iran.

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) – The United States expects
countries that buy oil from Iran to further reduce their
purchases if they want to avoid U.S. sanctions, a State
Department source said on Wednesday.

“The law requires additional cuts so we expect buyers to
make additional cuts,” a source at the State Department said
about the U.S. sanctions law signed a year ago by President
Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate resoundingly approved on Friday expanded sanctions on global trade with Iran’s energy and shipping sectors, its latest effort to ratchet up economic pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

The new package, which keeps in place exemptions for countries that have made significant cuts to their purchases of Iranian crude oil, would be the third round of sanctions in a year if passed into law.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials were surprised that BP Plc suggested an agreement would soon be ready to lift a suspension imposed this week on the company’s obtaining new federal contracts, a government source said on Thursday.

“It caught us off guard,” the source said. “It’s not the case that there is an administrative agreement that is ready to go out the door right now,” the source said, adding that any administrative agreement will only be part of a several-step process that could take months.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials were surprised that BP Plc suggested an agreement would soon be ready to lift a suspension imposed this week on the company’s obtaining new federal contracts, a government source said on Thursday.

“It caught us off guard,” the source said. “It’s not the case that there is an administrative agreement that is ready to go out the door right now,” the source said, adding that any administrative agreement will only be part of a several-step process that could take months.

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – A group of Democratic
senators on Thursday will urge the Obama administration to
propose rules to cut smog-forming emissions from gasoline,
regulations opposed by many Republicans.

The lawmakers, led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New
York, want the Environmental Protection Agency to propose rules
that would slash the sulfur content in gasoline this year and to
finalize them next year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government banned BP Plc from new federal contracts on Wednesday over its “lack of business integrity” in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, a move that could imperil the British energy giant’s U.S. footing.

The suspension, announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, comes on the heels of BP’s November 15 agreement with the U.S. government to plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. BP agreed to pay $4.5 billion in penalties, including a record $1.256 billion criminal fine.

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The U.S. government banned BP
Plc from new federal contracts on Wednesday over its
“lack of business integrity” in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
in 2010, a move that could imperil the British energy giant’s
U.S. footing.

The suspension, announced by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, comes on the heels of BP’s Nov. 15 agreement
with the U.S. government to plead guilty to criminal misconduct
in the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in
U.S. history. BP agreed to pay $4.5 billion in penalties,
including a record $1.256 billion criminal fine.

About Timothy

"I cover U.S. energy and environment policy and climate change. Moved to DC in late 2009 after a decade in New York. Author of "Diminishing Resources:Oil," which is one in a series of books for young adults."